New Tires - Silverado 2500HD 2003

I'm prolly gonna start an argument here but.....wider tires will give you LESS traction when the entire road surface is wet or slippery. This is because the weight is distributed over a wider area. If you go with a skinny tire the weight will be concentrated in a smaller area and it will be able to displace the water more efficiently. Take a look at the "AquaTread" type tires. They look a lot like a pair of skinny tires side by side. Before all the race heads jump in with "then why do dragsters have such wide tires?" remember that dragsters are launching under very controlled conditions. The coefficient of friction is a fairly constant at the starting line. And, they are slick, no tread pattern at all so that they can use every millimeter of rubber hitting the track. When I lived in snow country my winter tires were the skinniest I could get so that I had a better chance of biting through the snow and I had less water buildup to worry about. Conversely, a wider tire has much better traction when dry.

My .02, flame away :) Mike

I have P275/45R20 Goodyear's on my truck. They are pretty wide and I can tell you in the rain the tires are quite slick in the rear. When the roads are dry I have great traction. I don't have any problem pulling up my Kawasaki 1100 STX 3 person jetski. If I had a large heavy boat, I'd consider a 4x4 for the extra traction. You really shouldn't have any problems now with a Bass Boat.

Well, whether or not its a problem is of course a matter of definition. If I fished once a month it I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. Well, except for my sanity, but I try to get out 6-8 times a month. I usually fish 4 tournaments a month and conditions vary. Also, if I'm the one pulling up the ramp it rarely spins, but quite often in tournament conditions your partner is putting you in or pulling you out so you don't waste a lot of time and block the ramp.

Also I think you might be misvisualizing the weight and size when I say "bass boat" LOL. A 20'3" Bass Cat with a 225 Optimax on the back is not a "big heavy boat", but its no car topper either. LOL. Its probably heavier than you think.

And yes.... I too would consider a 4X4 (as I mentioned), but it is simply not practical to trade in a two year old truck for a new truck. I have to make do with the truck I have.

Bob La Londe

Bob, I have to concur with what Mike stated above, wider tires are not the answer, you will be spreading out the load of the truck over a greater area, giving less weight per square inch on each tire, and less traction, especially in the water. The aquatreads he mentioned might just be the ticket, deeep grooves and fairly narrow, to increase the weight per square inch pushing on each tire. I'm assuming you have a limited slip differential at least, so that both tires drive (or spin) when you're coming up the ramp....if only one tire is driving (right rear) you are in a bad way.

Good Luck, Ed

Changing tire sizes even width can affect ABS system.

See

Well, Bob, one other option is to brush up on your fish catching ability. Then you could afford a 4X4!! ;-)

V.B.

ROFL. You got me there. Still Laughing. LOL.

Actually, anything I win right now is going in to pay a little extra on the principal of my boat. I got a good deal on the boat, but my interest rate is not even close to the 1.9% I got on my truck.

Yeah, I wish I had gone with the 4X4 now, but at the time I was looking for a 3/4 ton to pull my toy hauler and office trailer. As it turns out I hardly ever move either one. The 4X4 to pull my boat out of the water would have been the better choice and it would have cost about the same. As rarely as I move the trailers I could have just towed them a little slower. Oh, well. Next time.

LOL.

Bob La Londe

differential

Ok, so maybe staying with a stock width tire and putting a shell on the back to put some more weight on the rear axle along with going to an aqua tread type tire might be a better answer. Yes, I do have a limited slip differential.

Bob La Londe

You can add Weight to the back of your truck which will help with traction. Anything from bricks, to I've heard of large Water bag type things to make weight. Back of trucks are so light the tires end up slipping. More weight better traction. Of course more weight worse gas mileage, which is why I guess why there are water bags you can get to ad weight. Fill up with water near by and then your ready to launch. Drain out when done. Adding a Shell would help a little bit, but they don't really weigh all that much, plus it does limit your view more. You defiantly need a locking rear end. Luckily when I got my 03 Silverado it had 3:73 gears and a locking rear end which helps. I'm not towing a heavy boat so I don't have any problems. I know a Bass Boat doesn't weigh much either, so you shouldn't be having any problems. Just don't stomp on the gas when you first go and you shouldn't be spinning your tires. I never seem to have that type of problem unless I gas it a bit much and the tires will spin a sec before they get a grip, and that's only been at this one launch ramp that's really long and steep. I don't normally go to that one because of that and the waves are really bad at times. It was so bad one time, I had my Jetski tied off when I went to get my truck, and within a few minutes it had broke the rope hook and was crashing against the ramp. Luckily it didn't have a chance to do to much damage.

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message >

I've never heard of it affecting the ABS system!!! The Speedometer will be off is the only major thing. That can be corrected with a Power Programmer most of the time. The ABS will be affected if you have different size tires all around your car/truck. I've done enough 4 to 8 inch lift kits and a huge tire size upgrade and it's never affected the ABS. Stopping power can suffer with the larger tires and/or wheels but the ABS still works. Width shouldn't cause any ABS problems either. Hell the tires on my own 03 Silverado are like double the width of the stock ones. My ABS works fine.